Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

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A History of the Bridgepoint Hospital Site

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted April, 2015

Here on the Bridgepoint Hospital site on the west side of Broadview Avenue across from Victor Avenue can be found this plaque. An identical one can be found on the north side of Gerrard Street East, opposite Munro Street. Here's what it tells us:

Coordinates: 43.66685 -79.35346

Since its earliest days, the facilities on this site have addressed the most pressing public issues of the time. In the 1860s, planning and construction begin for a new, more progressive jail. A House of Refuge was built to shelter Toronto's "poor, needy, and disabled." This was converted to serve as an isolation hospital when a smallpox epidemic began in the 1870s. Over the years, the hospital grew. Today it has evolved into the campus of Bridgepoint Active Healthcare.

The Bridgepoint Site: A Timeline

1793 - Toronto's founder, Governor General John Graves Simcoe, grants 98 ha of land to his estate manager, John Scadding.
1856 - Scadding's family sells 47 ha to the City of Toronto.
1860 - The House of Refuge is built for Toronto's "poor, needy, and disabled."
1864 - The Toronto Jail, which came to be known as the Don Jail, is built as a more humane and orderly alternative to Toronto's previous three jails.
1865 - A gate house is built for the jail's Gatekeeper.
1872 - The House of Refuge is converted to the Smallpox Hospital.
1888 - The Governor's house is built when the south centre block of the Don Jail is converted to cells and other facilities.
1891 - The Smallpox Hospital is renamed the Isolation Hospital. This was in response to new epidemics, such as scarlet fever and diphtheria.
1893 - A new Isolation Hospital is built.
1904 - The Isolation Hospital is renamed Riverdale Isolation Hospital.
1910 - Riverdale Public Library is built.
1957 - The Riverdale Isolation Hospital is renamed Riverdale Hospital.
1958 - The new east wing of the Don Jail is built.
1963 - The new Riverdale Hospital opens.
1964 - The Don Valley Parkway opens.
1977 - The Don Jail closes.
2002 - Riverdale Hospital is renamed Bridgepoint Hospital.
2013 - The new Bridgepoint Hospital and the children's hospice Emily's House open.

Here is a map and a list of all the plaques on the Bridgepoint Hospital site. Links to the plaques can be found below.
Bridgepoint Site Map
Bridgepoint Plaque List

Links to plaques on the Bridgepoint Hospital site
Doctors & Nurses
The Evolution of Healthcare Services
The Exercise Yards at the Don Jail
The Gate House at the Don Jail
The Governor's House at the Don Jail
The Landscape: Scadding's Property
Life: A Mosaic Tile Mural
Riverdale Hospital

More
Medical Buildings

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